If there’s one thing Taylor Swift plans to do, it’s surprise her fans with something new. That was certainly the case when the superstar released not one, but two new albums this week: The Tortured Poets Department and its surprise expanded version, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. Now the video for the album’s lead single, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, has been released, with Swift releasing it on Friday night.
In total, Swifties was able to stream 31 new songs in the wee hours of Friday morning, including the four bonus tracks that were previously exclusive to the CD variant editions of Tortured Poets. Swift described Tortured Poets on her Instagram as a reflection of a “fleeting, fatalistic moment – one that is both sensational and painful in equal measure.” Tortured Poets is already breaking records: it is the most listened to album in a single day in 2024, reports Billboard.
Learn more: Apple Music vs. Spotify: How to Decide
Swift announced the Department of Tortured Poets in February, after winning her 14th Grammy Award. Since then, she has unveiled four variations of The Tortured Poets Department, during the last stop of The Eras Tour. Additionally, a mysterious YouTube short was posted on Taylor’s account, encouraging fans to join the “For a Fortnight Challenge.”
Here’s everything you need to know to listen to The Tortured Poets Department. We’ll continue to update this story with any last-minute announcements and surprises that Swift no doubt has in store. For more, here’s how to stream The Eras Tour concert film and here’s our list of the best music streaming services of 2024.
How to stream Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department
You can stream The Tortured Poets Department on your streaming service of choice. Spotify and Apple Music subscribers can currently stream The Tortured Poets Department, as can YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and Tidal users.
This includes The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which contains all 31 new songs. You can see all the options in Swift’s link tree here.
Tracks and collaborators from The Tortured Poets department
The Department of Tortured Poets features 16 new songs and four variant-specific bonus tracks. Post Malone and Florence & The Machine both appear on the album, and Swift teamed up with longtime friend Jack Antonoff and recent collaborator Aaron Dessner on her latest record.
This record features several solo writing credits for Swift. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me were both written solely by the superstar. With the release of TTPD: The Anthology, Swift adds The Black Dog, imgonnagetyouback, Peter and The Manuscript to her solo writing credits.
The standard tracklist for the album is as follows:
- Fortnight (with Post Malone)
- The Department of Tortured Poets
- My boy only breaks his favorite toys
- Down bad
- Goodbye, London
- But dad, I love him
- Fresh out of Slammer
- Florida!!! (with Florence and the machine)
- Guilty as sin?
- Who’s afraid of little old me?
- I can fix it (not really I can)
- loml
- I can do it with a broken heart
- The smallest man who ever lived
- Alchemy
- Clara Arc
- The black dog
- imgonnagetyouback
- The Albatross
- Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
- How did it end?
- So high school
- I hate it here
- Thank you my love
- I look in people’s windows
- The prophecy
- Cassandra
- Rock
- The Bolter
- robin
- The manuscript
The first 16 songs were expected as part of The Tortured Poets’ release, but at 2 a.m. on April 19, Swift surprised fans with the release of a double album. Songs 17-31 make up the second half of the Department of Tortured Poets: The Anthology.
How to find The Tortured Poets Department on CD and vinyl
There are four confirmed variants of TTPD, named after the bonus track, each of which will include: The Bolter, The Albatross, The Black Dog and The Manuscript. While the variants are available for sale on Swift’s website, fans can also find them at Target. These do not include the additional 15 songs included in TTPD: The Anthology.
The majority of variant editions are available as CDs, including The Bolter, The Albatross and The Black Dog. The fourth edition variant, named after the bonus song The Manuscript, is available as CD and on vinyl in Phantom Clear or Phantom White colors only at Target. Swift also held pre-orders for vinyl bundles of the other variant editions (The Bolter, The Albatross and The Black Dog) which included a deluxe CD and cassette, but these were only available until April 12 .
In every post Taylor Swift makes on social media, she includes the same pre-order link, which includes other retailers besides her website and Target, like Barnes & Noble. At Target you can buy each CD individually for $14 and The Manuscript vinyl costs $46. There is currently no place where you can find all four bonus songs on the same CD, so completionists and collectors should be prepared to spend some money.
How can I stream bonus songs and the Tortured Poets Anthology?
Good news: as part of the 2AM double album release, all four confirmed bonus songs are included in TTPD: The Anthology. So you no longer need to purchase each of the four edition variants on CD and vinyl to listen to The Bolter, The Albatross, The Black Dog and The Manuscript. TTPD: The Anthology is available wherever you stream music.
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology has yet to see a physical release, although a digital download is available for $15 on Swift’s website. So fans and collectors will still need to purchase the variant physical copies of the album if you want to hear all four bonus tracks. We will update this story if Swift releases a physical version of TTPD: The Anthology. You can hear snippets of the album on TikTok, as Swift recently agreed to allow some of her songs to return to the app.
This is not how Swift has handled bonus song releases before. With her latest original album Midnights in 2022, she released songs in stages: the original album, a 3 a.m. release with seven more songs, and then randomly released singles on CD and vinyl. There are three streaming versions of the album, but there’s still no central album – streaming, CD or vinyl – where you can listen to every song from the Midnights era. So it’s safe to say that Swift took the short route this time around.
What you need to know about the tortured poets department’s alleged leak
On April 18, just a day before the album was due to be released, the BBC reported that Swift’s latest album had allegedly been leaked. The leak has not been confirmed or denied by Swift’s camp, but fans online have encouraged each other to hold off on listening to the new album until Swift’s official release. Additionally, X (formerly Twitter) banned searches for “Taylor Swift leak,” much like the platform did when explicit AI-generated images of Swift circulated earlier this year.
While some fans online have claimed to have listened to the leak, we recommend streaming the album on Spotify or Apple. Do not click on links advertising a leaked copy of the album may not be safe. Bad actors are likely to capitalize on fans’ enthusiasm for the album, and these links could potentially be dangerous viruses or explicit content.
For more, find out why Swiftie won’t stream the Eras Tour movie and the best headphones for 2024.